For the longest time, one of the items on my Yucket (Yale bucket) list has been donating blood. You may ask, “Bernice, how is this relevant to Yale?” because donating blood has nothing to do with academics or social activities. However, if you visited campus enough, you would see the plethora of Red Cross Blood Drive Posters placed all over campus and understand why this is on my Yale bucket list.
Although I passed by the Red Cross Blood Drive posters during my walks to and from class, I was always hesitant about donating blood due to my irrational fear of needles. Anyways, after seeing the infamous Snoopy t-shirts that were given to blood donors, I knew this was a sign for me to donate blood. Since I knew the process would take some time, I made sure to clear my schedule beforehand and fuel up on lots of fruit juice from the dining hall (POG is the best dining hall beverage at Yale).
There were many people donating blood besides undergrads!
Donating blood with Handsome Dan
The blood donation site at Yale is in Dwight Hall, located very conveniently on Old Campus. Even though I am a junior, the past week was the first time I entered Dwight Hall, which is Yale’s Center for Public Service and Social Justice. After getting checked in and the staff made sure my vitals were satisfactory, I was finally able to donate blood. Surprisingly, the process went relatively quickly, and after a quick 10 minutes, I was back outside with some treats and a t-shirt to commemorate this event.
Although donating blood is nothing significant, I’m glad to have been able to cross an item off my Yale bucket list. Since this is my last week of classes as a junior, I am excited for my senior year adventures and continuing to cross items off my Yale bucket list.
The infamous Snoopy shirt
